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février 03, 2013 | SOI General: Headquarters

A Family of Volunteers

By Will Schermerhorn

Korean Volunteer Geumsook Kim

She was never still, this Healthy Athletes Fit Feet volunteer. Geumsook Kim carried her clipboard on her patrols through the Fit Feet area, looking for ways to help and for opportunities to make the sequence of exam stations move more quickly. She was a little camera shy, but I eventually got her to alight so that I could take her picture.
"She is organized. Even with all the chaos, when all the athletes come in bunches, she knows who needs to be where," said Patrick Nunan, head of the Fit Feet area. "She's wonderful."
At a quiet moment, I asked her why she volunteered.
"We were volunteers in the previous Special Olympics Healthy Athletes clinic, last year," she said with the help of a translator. Kim told me her whole family was volunteering for the World WInter Games in Korea. Her husband was volunteering at the ice skating venue and her daughter was at a floor hockey venue.
"My husband wanted my daughter to learn to do something for people with disabilities. It's family policy."

About Will Schermerhorn: I am the director of web products for Special Olympics.